Just a Little Black Magic
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: *Legend of the Three Caballeros* José has a secret. He is able to use black magic, though he doesn't like to. His powers scare him. Little does he know that he may not be the only one who can do black magic.


**A/N: This is another story request. I was a little confused when it was requested, because it seemed to come out of nowhere. They asked for a story where José has dark magic and hides it from the others because it's dangerous. It took me a little bit, but I eventually remembered that in the original Three Caballeros movie, José actually uses what he calls black magic to change his and Donald's sizes, kinda similarly to what they did in the underworld in the show. Now that...that I can work with.**

 **I hope this is what the person who requested the story was looking for.**

* * *

When it came to the real world, José considered himself a dreamer. More times than he could count he had made seeming unachievable goals that he hoped to accomplish. Sometimes he succeeded, and sometimes he failed. He didn't let his failures deter or define him though. José learned from his failures, and used this knowledge to look for new goals.

When it came to the other kind of dreams, the kind that one had when they slept, José had never had any such thing. He couldn't think of a single instance in which he'd had a pleasant dream as he slept. On most nights, José's sleep was undisturbed by images conjured up by his own imagination.

Some nights though...some nights it was an entirely different story.

José's eyes snapped open as he woke up with a start. He sat up and looked around the room. The room was lit up just enough for him to be able to see things properly, thanks to a small nightlight that he had plugged into the wall. The nightlight only lit up the room so much though, especially considering the size of the bedroom. Maybe others appreciated having so much space to call their own, but José had always been disturbed by large, empty rooms. Especially at night, when the world was dark. The larger the room, the less effective a small light was, and the more shadows there were for dangers to hide in.

José sighed and rubbed any of the lingering sleep out of his eyes. He didn't think he would be able to get any more sleep that night, nor did he think that he wanted to. He felt as though if he did sleep, he would only have another nightmare that would haunt him even more than the first one had.

While José had never had any dreams, he had experienced his fair share of nightmares. Maybe these could be classified as a kind of dream, but José prefered to think about nightmares as a different thing altogether. While he didn't think it fair that he only ever had nightmares and never dreams, he would begin to think that the universe had something against him if it allowed him to have the bad kind of dreams, but never the good kind.

But there would be no use in lingering on how fair or unfair his sleep visions were, as José couldn't do anything to change them. The only thing he could do was calm himself down after a bad nightmare. And the first thing he needed to do was get some proper light in this room.

Taking a deep breath, José threw off the covers and all but launched himself out of the bed. He ran to the other side of the room and nearly broke the lightswitch in his rush to turn it on. Only when the room was lit in bright light did José allow himself to relax. He made a mental note to look through all of the old junk that was still in the cabana. While he, Donald, and Panchito had agreed to not bring everything from the cabana to the manor (mostly because Daisy had been insistent about it), José didn't think there would be any harm in him bring a lamp over should he find one.

But that could probably wait until morning

José looked around his room and frowned. After so long of living in a small Cabana with Donald, Panchito, Xandra, Ari, April, May, June, and living bear rug, one would think that he would be relieved to finally have some space to himself. In fact, that was far from the truth.

José had never felt crowded or overwhelmed in the small cabana. Ever since he was a child he had always felt safest when he was around people that he trusted, especially if they were in a place where there wasn't a lot of space between one person and another, such as in the crowded cabana.

But now, they were all living in the manor. While there were still many of them there, they all had their own rooms. José hadn't been eager with the idea, but he had gone along with it because he couldn't see the harm in having some space to himself. And if it was what the others had wanted, then he would tolerate it until he got used to it and surely grew to like the privacy as well.

So, of course, José just _had_ to have gotten a nightmare, his first in more than a year, during his first night sleeping on his own after so long. He knew that he should have seen this happening, but he hadn't, and now he had to deal with the lingering feeling of paranoid fear at least until the end of the night.

José sighed again and opened the bedroom door. He didn't know what he would do, but he didn't want to be in this room anymore. It felt much too large, much too lonely. Even if it was unlikely that anybody else was awake, José knew that he would feel more comfortable if he went somewhere else in the manor. Even if he just went to the entrance hall where the bear rug slept. Even sleeping company was better than no company at all.

Because he didn't want to be left in the darkness again, José left his light on and the door wide open. Some light spilled into the hallway, not a lot, but enough that José wouldn't feel like the shadows were trying to swallow him whole. There were also large windows in the halls that let the moonlight from outside shine through. It may not be the golden light that José prefered, but it was certainly better than the darkness, so he wasn't about to complain about it.

José slowly made his way down the hallway towards the stairs. He knew that the manor could get confusing, so he was glad that he had thought to choose a bedroom that was just down the hall from the stairs that led down to the main entrance. It was a little harder to get lost when all he had to do was walk straight until he reached the stairs.

When José got to the stairs he tightly gripped the handrailing as he made his way down them. He hated how his nightmare had left him paranoid about everything, even walking down some stairs in the dark, but he would rather be safe than sorry, so he was willing to take it slow, even if he did feel a little foolish doing so.

When José reached the bottom of the stairs he blinked in confusion. He could see some light shining into the entrance hall, and it definitely wasn't light that came from outside. Feeling curious and not as frightened (what reason did he have to be afraid of a light when it was the dark that unsettled him?), José walked closer to the light until he could see that it was coming from the kitchen.

José's first thought was that somebody had just left the light on. It happened sometimes. But then he heard some slight rustlings in the kitchen, as well as a cheerful tune being hummed. José grinned slightly to himself when he heard the humming. While anybody that lived in the manor might hum just for the joy of it, José could only think of one of them that would human a distinctly Latin American sounding tune with so much energy so late at night.

"Panchito?" José poked his head into the kitchen to see his close friend rummaging through the cabinets.

"Oh, holá, José" Panchito said cheerfully. "Buonos días."

"Bom dia." José chuckled. "Although, I'm not sure if we can say that it is morning when it's the middle of the night.

"It could just be so early that the sun hasn't decided to rise yet." Panchito suggested.

"Fair enough." José made his way to one of the stools near the counter and sat himself down. "So, my friend, what are you doing up so late, or early, if you would rather."

"I'm getting a midnight snack!" Panchito excitedly gestured to everything that he had gotten out, which looked to included about half the food in the kitchen. "I just haven't decided what to make yet." Panchito sat down on the stool next to José's. "What about you, amigo? Why are you up so late?"

"I...couldn't sleep." José said as he nervously adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves. Panchito watched him, a curious expression on his face.

"Do you mean that you couldn't sleep, or that you didn't want to go back to sleep?" Panchito asked. The rooster was far more perceptive than others often gave him credit for. Panchito must have noticed during their stay at the cabana that José was the only one of them who never struggled to get some sleep. He was the only one to never be woken by strange noises in the middle of the night, and he had never been bothered by the limited space. Of course Panchito would have noticed that José didn't normally struggle to sleep, so if he did there must be a reason why.

"I didn't want to go back to sleep." José admitted.

"Ah," Panchito nodded in understanding. "Nightmares."

"Sim." José sighed. "It's been a long time since I've had a nightmare like this."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Panchito asked.

José considered the offer for a moment. "Honestly, I don't think I remember it." José had never been able to remember the details of his nightmares, though he did have a decent guess of what the nightmare had revolved around. It wasn't something that he wanted to talk to Panchito about. Although, maybe…

"Panchito, do you remember when we were in the underworld?" José asked seriously.

"How could I forget?" Panchito frowned slightly.

"Well do you remember the way that we altered our sizes to fight the yokai and all the Sheldgooses?"

"Oh, yeah, that was fun." Panchito's excited grin returned to his face. José couldn't help but grin slightly in return. Panchito's energy was just so contagious.

"Yes, well, I was wondering how you had known that we were capable of doing such a thing." José had actually been thinking about this since they had come back from the underworld, but he had never found the right time to ask. But after the nightmare that he'd had, José figured that now would be as good a time as ever to get some answers that he'd been looking for.

"Donald's great-grandfather showed us, didn't he?" Panchito asked.

"Yes, but how did you know that it was something that we were capable of doing, and not just something that spirits alone could do?" José asked.

Panchito was quiet for a moment. "...Were we not spirits?"

"No, I don't think that we were." José said. "At least, not the same kind of spirits that ghosts are." It they truly had died, and if they really had been ghosts, José didn't think they would have been able to get back to the mortal realm so easily.

"But if we weren't ghosts, then how were the girls able to summon me with a seance?" Panchito asked, and José felt his blood run cold.

"They did what?!" How had he not known about this?

"Yeah, that's why I disappeared and then came back so suddenly." Panchito explained, as though it was perfectly normal that his spirit had been summoned from the afterlife.

"But...only spirits with unfinished business can be summoned back to the mortal world." José said as he tried to think of an explanation. Technically, it is possible for spirits without unfinished business to return, but it required either the spirit or the summoner to be practiced in the dark arts, and José highly doubted that either Panchito or any of the girls had any such abilities...then again, Panchito _had_ known how to use spirit abilities after seeing just a single demonstration…

"Oh, I did have unfinished business." Panchito said. "Apparently I had left a slice of pizza at home before we left, and the girls were able to use it to summon me."

"That's...not how it works." José tried to wrap his head around the idea that Panchito had some kind of black magic. He didn't want to consider the possibility, but it was the only one that made sense. If one of the girls had black magic, then they would have instinctively known that a leftover slice of pizza did not count as unfinished business. Even if one wasn't practiced in black magic, if they were born with the abilities, then they knew how to use them, even if they didn't realize they did.

"...My friend?" José hesitantly looked at his friend, who looked as carefree as he ever was. "Are you familiar with black magic?"

"Black magic?" Panchito looked confused. "I didn't know that magic had different colors."

"It doesn't, well, not really." José relaxed slightly. It seemed like Panchito wasn't aware that black magic was a thing. While that wasn't necessarily a guarantee that he didn't have it anyways, it still made José feel better. "But there is black magic and white magic. Or, if you prefer, bad magic and good magic."

"Ah," Panchito nodded. "Why do you want to know about black magic?"

"I was simply curious." José _didn't_ want to know about black magic. He already knew far more about the dark arts than he would like. He had wanted to know if Panchito knew about black magic. "Seances and the summoning of spirits is a kind of black magic."

Panchito looked confused. "But I thought you said that black magic was evil."

"It is." José nodded.

"So you think the girls used evil magic?" Panchito tilted his head. "All they did was talk to me. How is that evil?"

"Anything that has to do with the dead and spirits is black magic, no matter the intentions of the one using the magic." José explained. He knew how complicated magic could be, but it was important that Panchito understand this. José didn't want Panchito or the girls to get used to the idea of tapping into magic to solve their problems. While magic can be useful, there is a reason why some magic is classified as black magic, and those reasons should be understood and respected.

"Do you not think that people can do good things with dead people magic?" Panchito asked.

"Well, they can," José admitted reluctantly. "But this kind of magic, as well as many other kinds of magic, are dangerous, which is what makes them evil."

"...I don't understand." Panchito said. "If somebody is able to do magic to do good, what does it matter what kind of magic they use?"

"It just does." José insisted. "Sometimes, the ends doesn't justify the means."

"But sometimes it does." Panchito kicked his feet. "I don't think that any kind of magic is inherently evil. Black magic can be done for good, and white magic can be done for bad. It all depends on the person."

"Sim, but...but…" José put his hands behind his back and twiddled his fingers, which had begun to twitch. Panchito's words were nice and all, but...that just wasn't how magic was. Black magic was forbidden for a reason, because it was dangerous.

Panchito frowned and leaned slightly towards José. "Are you alright, my friend?"

"I'm fine." José said even as he looked away from his friend. He was just confused. Black magic, dark magic, while it could be used for good, that didn't mean that it should be. It was far too easy to be corrupted by any kind of magic, even white magic. With black magic, the temptation was even more powerful.

But, Panchito had used black magic, José was sure of it. When they had been in the underworld, where black magic was at its strongest, Panchito hadn't hesitated to use a little black magic to manipulate his size to gain an advantage over the yokai. And the girl's seance shouldn't have worked if Panchito didn't have some black magic potential inside of him. And, thinking back on that first day when they had met, Panchito had jumped out of an airplane and hadn't deployed his parachute until after he had already hit the ground. By all logic, he should have died from the fall, but he hadn't even had a single bruise, and one of the more common black magic practices was to manipulate the life-span of the one using the magic.

José was concerned about the possibility of his friend having black magic, but not as concerned as he probably should be. Panchito probably didn't even know about his own abilities, and he was just using his powers subconsciously. Sometimes, this kind of magic was even more dangerous and tempting when it was used without one knowing that they were using it in the first place. If Panchito was anybody else, José would begin to think of a way to stop them should their black magic overcome them.

But Panchito wasn't anybody else. Panchito was Panchito, and José couldn't imagine him giving in to the darkness of the magic that he didn't even know about.

Still, it was a possibility. José made a mental note to keep an eye on Panchito in the future for further signs of black magic. If Panchito's powers showed themselves more and more often, especially if it began to happen when there was no real need for it, then José would step in and show his friend some of the inner details of the world of black magic, not so he could use his magic better, but so that he could control his abilities a little more and understand just how dangerous they could be.

José was brought out of his thoughts when Panchito let out a long, wide yawn that lasted for a fair amount of time. At seeing the sign of Panchito's fatigue, José suddenly felt the need to yawn as well, and he did so.

"It's getting late, my friend." José said. "Perhaps we should both get back to bed." He knew that Panchito hadn't eaten anything yet, but it was already really late. If Panchito stayed up to make himself a snack, it would likely be something sugary that would make him even more energetic than before, and would probably keep him awake until morning.

"Sí, you're probably right." Panchito stretched and hopped off the stool. "Will you be okay though?"

"I should be fine." José said, even though he knew that with all this talk of black magic, he was more likely to have another nightmare than he had been before.

Panchito must have seen the hesitation in his eyes, because he smiled and held a hand out to him. "Why not come join me in my room, just for tonight?" Panchito suggested.

José looked at his friend in slight shock. He hadn't expected Panchito to say such a thing, though he probably should have. "Are you sure, my friend?"

"Of course." Panchito said. "With two of us in the bed, no nightmare would dare bother us."

"Well, there's no arguing with that." José chuckled and accepted Panchito's hand. The rooster grinned and practically pulled José right out of the kitchen. The parrot barely had time to turn the lights off before Panchito had pulled him back into the entry hall and up the stairs. José briefly wondered if they should have put the food away, but he shrugged the concern away. Panchito hadn't really grabbed that many things from the fridge, and what he had grabbed could certainly survive at room temperature for a few hours. They could deal with the mess tomorrow.

Panchito also slept on the second floor, just down the hallway from José's room. José made sure to turn off his lights as they passed, immediately surrounding the two of them in a blanket of darkness.

José, who really wasn't a fan of the dark, even when he was expecting it, grew tense at the lack of light. Panchito, who must have felt how tense he had gotten, squeezed his hand in a reassuring way and slowed down to a walk. Panchito was no longer pulling José, but guiding him. Even though Panchito was in the lead, he slowed down to match José's speed, so they never went faster than the parrot was comfortable with, and he was very grateful to his friend for that.

After a few moments the two of them got to Panchito's room, which was a lot bigger than José's was. It didn't feel nearly as mysterious and scary though, so José didn't have a problem with it. He was still worried that something hiding in the shadows was going to attack them, but José had a hard time being afraid of some hypothetical creatures of mystery when he had his friend, who was one of the bravest birds that he knew, right at his side.

Maybe he would be able to get some sleep after all.

Panchito walked confidently through his room, even though the lights were off and it was almost completely dark. Panchito didn't hesitate or pause at all, he just walked right to his bed and climbed in. Before José could even consider wondering where he would be sleeping, Panchito had pulled him into the bed with him.

"Buenas noches, José" Panchito said as he snuggled in close to him. "Good night."

José chuckled. "Boa noite, Panchito."

"Espero que tengas buenos sueños." Panchito muttered sleepily, as though he was only half awake, which was impressive, as they had only gotten in bed a moment ago. "Sweet dreams."

"...Bons sonhos." José looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. He didn't' think he would have any nice dreams, he never did, but maybe he wouldn't have nightmares. José certainly hoped that was the case. He was already paranoid about black magic. He didn't need some visions from his subconscious to make his fear even worse.

José wondered if he should teach Panchito more about black magic. It could be dangerous, yes, but also beneficial for them both. Panchito would learn when he should use his own magic, and how to reign his powers in when they began to get away from him. And José...maybe Panchito could help him to not be so afraid of his own powers.

After all, José thought as he lifted up his hand and looked at one of his fingers, which, even though he was wearing his gloves, was visibly radiating with power. Dark power that scared him more than it probably should.

José believed that he was right to fear black magic, _his_ magic. But maybe, just maybe, Panchito was right. Maybe he could learn how to use black magic for good.

He would never know until he tried.

With this thought and newfound determination, José rolled over slightly to get more comfortable and allowed himself to relax. A few minutes later he fell into a dreamless, and nightmareless, sleep. At least for the night, all was well.


End file.
